Sunday, September 09, 2007

Current reading list...

I see a lot of blogs that have a header announcing what music the writer is currently listening to, and I gave a few seconds thought to including something similar here. But most of the time I'm listening to blues or jazz over the local cable net, rather than something specific. I like the diversity.

So, I thought it might be fun to include an occasional reading list. Books take far longer to read, giving the list a longer life span.

Here's the current stack:

Prodigal Child by E. David Moulton. Yes, that David Moulton! I'll have a post about this soon, because although I've finished reading the book, I need to go through it again before finishing the piece. And as is all too common, I've been procrastinating.

Aftermath - The Remnants of War by Donovan Webster. I've been reading about WW1 and listening to various history-related podcasts revolving around the Great War. Webster's book details some of the areas that are still cordoned off due to the enormous amounts of live ammunition littering the ground. The war that ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1919 is still killing people in France.

Invasion of the Party Snatchers by Victor Gold. "How the holy-rollers and neo-cons destroyed the GOP." For those of us left-of-center politically, this one is full of wonderful quotes.

Armed and Dangerous: The hunt for one of America's most wanted criminals by William Queen and Douglas Century. When one author's name is in larger print than the other, if fairly screams 'ghostwriter'. I haven't started this one yet.

Atlas of World Military History edited by William Brooks. Naturally, this isn't a book to read cover to cover. I'm using it for reference to events before, during, and after WW1. Fascinating stuff and wonderful illustrations.

Oh, there was a mystery that I breezed through in a couple of evenings. And there was a sci-fi book in the stack too, until I read the bit about how the long war had rid Earth of aliens with tentacles growing from their heads, leaving it to only true humans. Of course, they discovered that disguised aliens were living among them, leading to heavy-handed searches for them, while those 'assimilated' aliens knew the real danger was posed by aliens without tentacles. At that point, I decided the whole thing was just too damned silly.

Regardless, it's still a better use of my time than that glowing idiot box over in the corner.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Yokota Fritz said...

I recently completed The People's Act of Love by James Meek. It's an outstanding literary novel and I recommend it if you're into historical fiction. Since you seem to be into WWI right now, it takes place during the Russian Revolution.

I'm also going through a military science book. It's a pretty good book, but it has a fairly generic title that I can't recall at the moment.

Other books on my shelf worth reading: Yokohama Burning and The Tsar's Last Armada.

Do not get Kim Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain. Major snoozer.

1:02 PM  
Blogger amidnightrider said...

I lean toward historical books. Things like the Klondike Gold Rush, The US Rivers series. Things like that.

But being left of center, I'm sure you will like this. Especially with all the BS going on now.

2:55 PM  

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